III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 327 

Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of Maryknoll Sisters 

Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Cleveland Lay Mission Team Member Jean Donovan, who were executed 

by members of the Armed Forces of El Salvador on December 2, 1980. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2005 

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. DODD, and Mr. LEAHY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Remembering and commemorating the lives and work of 

Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline 

Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Cleveland Lay Mission Team 

Member Jean Donovan, who were executed by members 

of the Armed Forces of El Salvador on December 2, 

1980. 

Whereas on December 2, 1980, 4 churchwomen from the 

United States, Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita 

Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Cleveland Lay 

Mission Team Member Jean Donovan, were violated and 

executed by members of the National Guard of El Salvador; 
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Whereas in 1980, Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita 

Ford were working in the parish of the Church of San 

Juan Bautista in Chalatenango, El Salvador, providing 

food, transportation, and other assistance to refugees and 

Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and Cleveland Lay Mission Team Member Jean Donovan were working in the 

parish of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in La 

Libertad, El Salvador, providing assistance and support 

to refugees and other victims of violence; 

Whereas these 4 churchwomen from the United States dedicated their lives to working with the poor of El Salvador, 

especially women and children left homeless, displaced, 

and destitute by the Salvadoran civil war; 

Whereas these 4 churchwomen from the United States joined 

the more than 70,000 civilians who were murdered during the course of the Salvadoran civil war; 

Whereas on May 23 and May 24, 1984, 5 members of the 

National Guard of El Salvador, including Subsergeant 

Luis Antonio Colindres Aleman, Daniel Canales Ramirez, 

Carlos Joaquin Contreras Palacios, Francisco Orlando 

Contreras Recinos, and Jose Roberto Moreno Canjura, 

were found guilty by the Salvadoran courts of the executions of the churchwomen and were sentenced to 30 years 

in prison, marking the first case in the history of El Salvador where a member of the Salvadoran Armed Forces 

was convicted of murder by a Salvadoran judge; 

Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El 

Salvador was established under the terms of the historic 

January 1992 Peace Accords that ended El Salvador’s 

12 years of civil war and was charged to investigate and 

report to the Salvadoran people on human rights crimes 

committed by all sides during the course of the civil war; 
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Whereas in March 1993, the United Nations Commission on 

the Truth for El Salvador found that the execution of the 

4 churchwomen from the United States was planned and 

that Subsergeant Luis Antonio Colindres Aleman carried 

out orders from a superior to execute them, and that 

then Colonel Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, then Director-General of the National Guard and his cousin, Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Edgardo Casanova Vejar, then 

Commander of the Zacatecoluca military detachment 

where the murders were committed, and other military 

personnel knew that members of the National Guard had 

committed the murders pursuant to orders of a superior 

and that the subsequent coverup of the facts adversely 

affected the judicial investigation into the murders of the 

4 churchwomen from the United States; 

Whereas the United Nations Commission on the Truth for El 

Salvador determined that General Jose Guillermo Garcia, 

then Minister of Defense, made no serious effort to conduct a thorough investigation of responsibility for the 

murders of the churchwomen; 

Whereas the families of the 4 churchwomen from the United 

States continue their efforts to determine the full truth 

surrounding the murders of their loved ones, appreciate 

the cooperation of United States Government agencies in 

disclosing and providing documents relevant to the 

churchwomen’s murders, and pursue requests to release 

to the family members the few remaining undisclosed 

documents and reports pertaining to this case; 

Whereas the families of the 4 churchwomen from the United 

States appreciate the ability of those harmed by violence 

to bring suit against Salvadoran military officers in 
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United States courts under the Torture Victim Protection 

Act of 1991 (28 U.S.C. 1350 note); 

Whereas the lives of these 4 churchwomen from the United 

States have, for the past 25 years, served as inspiration 

for and continue to inspire Salvadorans, Americans, and 

people throughout the world to answer the call to service 

and to pursue lives dedicated to addressing the needs and 

aspirations of the poor, the vulnerable, and the disadvantaged, especially among women and children; 

Whereas the lives of the 4 churchwomen from the United 

States have also inspired numerous books, plays, films, 

music, religious events, and cultural events; 

Whereas schools, libraries, research centers, spiritual centers, 

health clinics, women’s and children’s programs in the 

United States and in El Salvador have been named after 

or dedicated to Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy 

Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Donovan; 

Whereas the Maryknoll Sisters, headquartered in Ossining, 

New York, the Ursuline Sisters, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, numerous religious task forces in the United 

States, and the Salvadoran and international religious 

communities based in El Salvador annually commemorate 

the lives and martyrdom of the 4 churchwomen from the 

United States; 

Whereas the historic January 1992 Peace Accords ended 12 

years of civil war and have allowed the Government and 

the people of El Salvador to achieve significant progress 

in creating and strengthening democratic, political, economic, and social institutions; and 

Whereas December 2, 2005, marks the 25th anniversary of 

the deaths of these 4 spiritual, courageous, and generous 
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churchwomen from the United States: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) remembers and commemorates the lives and 

3 work of Sisters Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, and Doro4 thy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan; 

5 (2) extends sympathy and support for the fami6 lies, friends, and religious communities of the 4 

7 churchwomen from the United States; 

8 (3) continues to find inspiration in the lives and 

9 work of these 4 churchwomen from the United 

10 States; 

11 (4) calls upon the people of the United States 

12 and religious congregations to participate in local, 

13 national, and international events commemorating 

14 the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of the 4 

15 churchwomen from the United States; 

16 (5) recognizes that while progress has been 

17 made during the post-war period, the work begun by 

18 the 4 churchwomen from the United States remains 

19 unfinished and social and economic hardships persist 

20 among many sectors of Salvadoran society; and 

21 (6) calls upon the President, the Secretary of 

22 State, the Administrator of the United States Agen23 cy for International Development, and the heads of 

24 other Government departments and agencies to con-
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1 tinue to support and collaborate with the Govern2 ment of El Salvador and with private sector, non3 governmental, and religious organizations in their ef4 forts to reduce poverty and hunger and to promote 

5 educational opportunity, health care, and social eq6 uity for the people of El Salvador. 

Æ